Forbidden Love (A love to be kept forever)

DIGGING UP MEMORIES

Present time

“I’m sorry, Gally.” I wanted to tell you the moment I saw you, but I was afraid you wouldn’t understand.”

“What do you mean, the moment you saw me? So you knew me all along?”

“Hmmm yeah, Katty has sent me some of your photos.”

“But, I thought we agreed not to see each other till we meet in person?” She’ll kill her best friend after this confrontation.

“Yeah, I know, I’m sorry.” Walks through Gally’s direction and cupped her face with his two hands.

Gally felt nervous and didn't know what to do. Will she go away or face him once and for all? She did not move; she is not even sure if she’s still breathing ‘coz Matt’s face is coming down her face. Gally could smell his breath and the alcohol, and it smells good. It reminded her of someone. She closed her eyes. 

“Gally, you are so beautiful. I’m sorry for everything, for leaving you without a word. I swear it wasn’t my intention at all.” He was talking to Gally an inch away from her lips. 

Gally is fighting the sensation that’s building inside her. Opened her eyes and tried to concentrate. “Matt, will you move a little? How can we talk like this?”

Matt smiled, “Why? You can talk right in front of my face,my sweet baby girl.” 

“I can’t; you are making me conscious.” After saying those words, Matt landed his lips on hers and gave her one tender kiss. 

“What was I thinking about?” the kiss was longing, and it’s like they both waited for this to happen. But then, Gally thought within herself, “you must act the way you should, Gally! You are married, remember?”

Then that’s the time Gally pushes Matt a little so their kissing will stop. “That’s enough, Matt. You know that this is not right.” 

“Gally, I don’t care; I’ve waited for this for so long. And now that you are just an inch away from me, how can I stop loving you?” 

“Loving me? Can you hear yourself, Matt? After leaving without even saying goodbye, will you now tell me that you love me?”

“Believe it or not, I have loved you the very first time I laid my hands on you.”

“You’re unbelievable, Matt. You laid your hands on me just yesterday, remember? Then you loved me since then? Watta love!” Gally expresses in dismay. 

“No, baby. You don’t understand.” His eyes cannot look straight in Gally’s direction.

“Then let me understand you!” Gally is losing her patience, and she doesn't know why Matt cannot look into her eyes. 

“If you will not say anything, then I’ll leave you here, go on and just drink.” she walked in the opposite direction when Matt followed her and hugged her behind. 

“I’m sorry.” He whispered in her ear. Gally knows that it was wrong, but she can’t avoid him. It’s like a powerful force was pushing her more to Matt instead of distancing herself. They stayed in that position for a while. No one is breaking the silence when Matt’s phone rings. “Go ahead, your girlfriend is calling you.”

“I don’t understand why it's like something was tweaking my heart and it hurts me.”  She murmured. 

Matt walked away and got his phone. “Hello, honey? Yeah, I’ll be there soon, just wait for me, Okay?” 

“Honey?! The nerve of this man to hug and kiss me and even confess his feelings then now he is calling someone, honey?” Gally furiously went back to her room and put herself under the blankets. “Why am I feeling this? Did I just have a husband who cheated on me? Now, what am I doing? Did I just cry my heart out last night because of what’s happening to our marriage? Now, what is this all about? Flirting with someone from the past?! How dare you Gally!”

Matt saw from his peripheral view that Gally rushed upstairs as if someone’s chasing her. So, after ending the call, he followed Gally. Finally, he knocked at the door. “Baby, let’s talk.”

After hearing those words outside the room, Gally pretended to sleep. She could hear the door open, and Matt’s steps were coming closer. 

“Gally, talk to me, please.”

Gally is just silent.

“I know you’re not sleeping.”

“Go away,” Gally says. “Stop messing with my feelings.”

“I am not messing with you. That’s the least I would want to do with your feelings.”

Gally loses her patience, and all the pain from the past starts flowing back again inside her. “Oh, yeah?! The least you would want to do is mess with me, but then you left me hanging! Dare to explain?!” Gally was a bit shouting, and her voice was shaking.

Matt expected this already. He deeply breathed first before starting to talk. “Baby, I am truly sorry for what happened. But, unfortunately, I had to bring my mom to the UK because of some reasons that I just couldn’t talk about now.” 

Gally sees the sadness in his eyes when he talks about her mom. The same grief that she also feels when he remembers her father. It touches her heart to see how his mother means to him. 

“Believe me or not, but the moment I left the country, I left my heart too.” He started talking.  

“We had family issues back then, and we needed to go away from here for the sake of my mom. So I did not leave you just like that, Gally.” 

“But you should’ve told me atleast, so I would know how to react.” 

“Yeah, I know, Baby, and I’m sorry for that.” 

“You just don’t know how I felt that day. I have waited for you,” and memories rushing back her mind again. 

It was the night of June 25, 2008. 

Despite all the problems she has right now, she is still happy because she will finally meet her online boyfriend for almost a week now but has been an online friend for two long years. So, she looks at the mirror, and only she wears skinny jeans, a white shirt and a pair of sneakers.  It’ll be the very first time she will see him literally. She doesn’t know what he looks like, not even in photos. Her best friend Kat was the one to introduce them to each other through an online messaging app. Right then, they’ve chatted and known one another just by exchanging messages. They’ve promised not to ask for any pictures until they meet in person. It’s their way of assuring themselves that it is better to get to know a person without seeing how they look to better judge their real personality. They’ve come a long way; they became friends at first, talked about everything under the sun. Then they both admitted that they were beginning to fall in love with each other and decided to finally meet in person. 

Gally reaches for her phone; she is waiting for Kyle’s message. “Hmmm, where are you now my baby boo?” She talked to the mirror. 

When her phone beeps, She immediately unlocks her phone to see who messaged her. It was Kyle. “Baby girl, I’m sorry I’ll be late for I guess half an hour -i love you. “

“It’s okay. You take care because I love you too and I’ll still marry you someday.” She loves the thought of marrying this man. Of course, she could say that she loves him because Gally only tends to like handsome guys, but this one, she doesn’t know what he looks like, but she loves him dearly. Since she was too excited for this day, it doesn’t matter whether he’ll be late or what, what’s important is that tonight they will meet each other. 

Galileah Quinn, the 22-year-old daughter of a beauty queen and a known politician. At the age of 22, she is already graduating with her Ph.D. in political science; she started teaching in college at 20 years old. She was born with a high IQ, making it easy to skip a few elementary and high school grade levels. Most of her students don’t take her seriously when they first meet her because of her age, but when she opens her mouth and starts teaching, everyone is in awe. She speaks nothing but intelligence. 

Who would’ve thought that the great Galileah Quinn will fall deeply in love with a man she hasn’t seen yet? “But isn't that what love is all about? Love has no boundary, and it will conquer all.” 

She waited for Kyle’s message, and it’s now 6 pm. And she is feeling something strange. This is the first time Kyle was silent. He used to message her a lot. She started to feel nervous. “Has something happened to him?”

Kyle/Matt POV

“Dad, tell me who she is.”

“Son, I think it’s better if you don’t know her. “

“Tell me, dad. Would you like us to fix the problem or what?”

“Okay, okay.” His dad got his phone and looked for a photo, and showed it to him.

After looking at the photo, he seems to know the woman; he isn't sure how. 

He was so busy the whole day; his attention was divided between the problem in the company and the problem at home. He even forgot about his girlfriend, and he felt guilty about it. And yeah, they will meet today, but he is super tired of all that’s happening. 

“Baby girl, please forgive me, can we move our date tomorrow? I promise to come earlier. I need to attend to some problems at home.” Gally reads her boyfriends’ message. 

She tries to be more understanding even if she’s hurting. She waited for this, so he did not just tell me ahead of time that maybe I am not that important to him. “Sure baby boo, no worries.”

“Please know that I love you so much.” 

“I love you too, so much.”

Gally felt betrayed; she walked into the hallway when she heard her father shout angrily. She comes near their bedroom and eavesdrops. After hearing the conversation, she felt like fainting. So she decided to run away with tears running down her face. What was happening? I was just very happy and complete this morning. 

She messaged Kyle. “I need you right now baby boo, please meet me.”

Kyle/Matt read the message, but he was not in his right mind to respond. Instead, he is occupied with the problem. 

Gally did not receive any response from Kyle, so she just went to a bar to drink all her pain away. 

Matt was like a zombie who rode in his car and drove anywhere it would bring him. Finally, he stopped at a bar and went inside. He will drink then. 

Gally was there drinking for almost an hour already, and she drinks like there's no tomorrow. She feels that her face is burning because of the alcohol. It is starting to take effect. Her tears started to fall, but she doesn’t care, and who cares anyway? Her own boyfriend doesn’t care about her, and even her parents don't care about her at all. She drinks what’s in her glass within one drink. Finally, she stands and looks for the comfort room. 

Matt saw this girl crying and now walking and looking for someone or something, maybe. The girl is tall, she’s maybe 5’7 or more, and I’m 6’1. She is slim but not the type of slim that someone can intimidate. She’s beautiful. “Come on, Matt. What are you thinking, you did not even respond to your gf’s message then you’re here complimenting someone beautiful?” He felt guilty, so he looked for his phone in his pocket when he realized that he left it at home. 

Then there’s the girl again approaching. She sits in front of him just a few steps away. He could now see more of her face. Her eyes were chinky, with a perfect nose and luscious lips. Her long black shiny hair added to her appeal. Matt continues to examine the girl’s look when someone grabs her arm, and she suddenly punches him in the face. 

"I knew it; no one could intimidate her. I think she can handle it" when someone pushed her, making her head hit the bar corner. He rushed to the girl and carried her in his arms.